Core 2 to Xeon hack double performance for $30

[Stonent]

Someone I know had an old Dell Optiplex 330 minitower that he didn't need anymore so he gave it to me.  I figured it would make a nice media server or something.  It has a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo processor in it and while looking around for upgrades apparently you can hack the Socket 771 Xeon processors to work in a Socket 775 system with an adapter and cutting the alignment keys off the socket.

But the best part is the Xeon processors are 1/2 to 1/4 the cost of a similar Core 2 Quad processor. (Like $25 for the processor and $3 for the adapter)

Intel apparently swapped 2 pins on the Xeon so even if you defeated the keying mechanism on the socket it wouldn't work. So there are these little adapters made from some flat flex that slip under the processor that swap the pins back.

Interestingly the Optiplex 330 which seems to be the little brother of the Optiplex 755 (the 330 only has 2 memory slots) supports most of the Socket 771 Xeon processors in the E54 series, but the 755 doesn't seem to like them as much.

I looked at the performance of the E54xx series and they're pretty much inline with the first generation high end quad core i7 processors or dual core Haswell (generation 4) Core processors.

So if you have an older Core 2 Duo  (or gasp LGA775 Celeron) based desktop laying around that needs a little processing help, this might be a cheap upgrade for you.

[XOIIO]

Not really a hack if you are using an adapter, not to mention depending on the size you may have issues mounting your heatsink.

[Stonent]

Not really a hack if you are using an adapter, not to mention depending on the size you may have issues mounting your heatsink.

They're the same size processor.  One thing to keep in mind is some core 2 processors dump about 65W of heat but the top end Xeons in this series can dump over 130W of heat. 

I'm probably going with the E5440, it dumps 80W of heat at full load so I think it should be OK since Dell tends to use pretty large heatsinks on their processors.

[apelly]

Subscribed! Sounds interesting.

Half of my home machines are in this category.

Bigger problem is getting hold of DDR2 RAM in 4G sticks for less than an arm and a leg.

[Stonent]

Subscribed! Sounds interesting.

Half of my home machines are in this category.

Bigger problem is getting hold of DDR2 RAM in 4G sticks for less than an arm and a leg.

Yes, unfortunately that is my issue as well. I've got 2GB in that computer, it officially can take 4GB total, but unofficially will recognize 8.

[Stonent]

http://ark.intel.com/products/33082/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5440-12M-Cache-2_83-GHz-1333-MHz-FSB

Oh yea, 12MB of L2 cache on these processors.

[justanothercanuck]

I think I'll stick to my i7 920 with 6gb of memory. 

 

[Stonent]

I think I'll stick to my i7 920 with 6gb of memory. 

 

Yeah the 920 is about 25% faster than the E5440.
The mid-range laptop I bought recently has a Haswell i7 4710HQ that's nearly twice as fast as the E5440.

Here's some raw numbers: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

[XOIIO]

Not really a hack if you are using an adapter, not to mention depending on the size you may have issues mounting your heatsink.

They're the same size processor.  One thing to keep in mind is some core 2 processors dump about 65W of heat but the top end Xeons in this series can dump over 130W of heat. 

I'm probably going with the E5440, it dumps 80W of heat at full load so I think it should be OK since Dell tends to use pretty large heatsinks on their processors.

I mean how much space the physical adapter takes up between the processor and the 775 socket.

[Stonent]

Not really a hack if you are using an adapter, not to mention depending on the size you may have issues mounting your heatsink.

They're the same size processor.  One thing to keep in mind is some core 2 processors dump about 65W of heat but the top end Xeons in this series can dump over 130W of heat. 

I'm probably going with the E5440, it dumps 80W of heat at full load so I think it should be OK since Dell tends to use pretty large heatsinks on their processors.

I mean how much space the physical adapter takes up between the processor and the 775 socket.

Probably of little consequence. Just flat flex cable.  The LGA socket pins are flexible so they just go down when the processor is installed. Only 2 lands will be thicker since it is just swapping them, the rest are open probably just to keep it aligned.

[XOIIO]

Not really a hack if you are using an adapter, not to mention depending on the size you may have issues mounting your heatsink.

They're the same size processor.  One thing to keep in mind is some core 2 processors dump about 65W of heat but the top end Xeons in this series can dump over 130W of heat. 

I'm probably going with the E5440, it dumps 80W of heat at full load so I think it should be OK since Dell tends to use pretty large heatsinks on their processors.

I mean how much space the physical adapter takes up between the processor and the 775 socket.

Probably of little consequence. Just flat flex cable.  The LGA socket pins are flexible so they just go down when the processor is installed. Only 2 lands will be thicker since it is just swapping them, the rest are open probably just to keep it aligned.

Ah, I was thinking of the ones in my server which have pins on the processor itself, yeah those contacts make it much easier to be compact, if it were pins it would be more complex and take up more space

[wraper]

About lack of bios support. If it works, there is a big possibility that CPU will always run at the max frequency all the time. Therefore it will become a power hog.

[Stonent]

About lack of bios support. If it works, there is a big possibility that CPU will always run at the max frequency all the time. Therefore it will become a power hog.

I just remembered I never responded to this.  Yes, SpeedStep is working.  At idle the processor sits at 1.9GHz but it does go to 2.8GHz when you open a program and back down to 1.9GHz

[nixfu]

DETAILS HERE:

http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/